“We will investigate if we receive any complaint regarding the police mistreating them [refugees], however, it is settled the immigrants will leave the country as per the State’s policy. We will not take pressure from anyone on this matter,” he told reporters during a press conference in Karachi on Sunday.

Pakistan recently set a deadline of November 1 for all illegal refugees to sell their properties and leave the country. After the deadline, all illegal foreigners would be deported.

For him, there was a perception of Pakistan as a soft state for several decades, saying: “it is going to change now.”

Achakzai said that political governments in the past were not willing to take such measures due to the lack of political will, which has resulted in Pakistan facing multifaceted challenges including smuggling and terrorism.

Read: History & Law: Why Afghan refugees cannot become Pakistani citizens

He went on to add that the illegal refugees will have to leave the country before the deadline set by the government.

Pakistan has been a refuge for people fleeing from war in Afghanistan since the 1970s.

Some 1.73 million Afghans in Pakistan had no legal documents and the number of Afghan refugees in Pakistan totalled 4.4 million, Interim Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti said on Tuesday.